Early Talkers

Is your child a precocious talker?&nbsp; Most children start to acquire words around 12-15 months, but that means 5-10 words and building. By the time a child is 18 months...

Is your child a precocious talker? Most children start to acquire words around 12-15 months, but that means 5-10 words and building. By the time a child is 18 months old they are often mimicking when you ask them to say a word, and some are putting 2 words together. This is all very normal development. But there are few children who are just “early talkers” who are speaking in full sentences by the time they are 18-24 months!

I think having such a verbal child during the early toddler years is both a “blessing and a curse”. I know that from raising my own children, where my oldest was quite verbal by 20 months, and was “bossing us around” before age 2!! I also see this same dilemma in my little patients. While some parents are worried that their 2 year old does not put 3-4 words together, others want to know how you can stop the chatter. Parents.....we always have issues.

Example: When I come into the exam room for a 2 year old check up, the precocious talker looks up and says, “Hi Dr. Sue...what took you so long?”. Or they may tell their parent that they “don’t need any help” as I ask them to climb on the exam table. Recently a little boy looked right at his mother and said, “I’ve got this”, when I asked him to take off his shoes.

On another day a little girl was impatient to leave and kept asking her mother if they could go to the park after they left my office. The mother kept telling the little girl, “maybe” . Finally, exasperated, the 2 year old said, “what’s the answer, yes or no?”” How do you keep a straight face?

A verbal child can bring you to your knees, both laughing and sometimes wanting to cry. How can a 2 year old know just what to say to make a parent feel inadequate? Is it inborn? This seems to be especially true if you have had another child and the 2 year old is instructing you on how to parent “their baby”.

So, if your child is a talker write down all of those clever sentences they blurt out......one day you will look back and laugh. I often saw myself in my 2 year old as he told complete strangers , “my mommy says my baby brother cries all of the time, and he has colic!” Out of the mouth of babes, and I still remember it. Bittersweet.

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Dr. Sue Hubbard is an award winning pediatrician and medical editor for www.kidsdr.com. She is a native of Washington, D.C. who travelled south to attend the University of Texas at Austin and never left.Read More